Sunday, June 19, 2022

Cada C66007 Summer Breeze Coffee Shop Review (Not Lego)

Hey brick fans, welcome back to Bricks and Figs!   Ready for another review?  Let's go!

Today, we will be reviewing another beautiful designed building by Exe Sandbox (instagram: @exesandbox) in partnership with Doublee_Cada blocks.  Not too long ago, I reviewed the Cada Steamed Bun Shop which was Exe Sandbox's first collaboration with Cada, and I can say that that was an awesome set.

Thanks to afobrick.com, I get to review the 1108 piece Summer Breeze Coffee Shop.  You can find this set on their on-line store right now.  Shipping is free and superfast, as I can attest to getting my set in under 2 weeks.

Here's what the building block set consists of, besides the instruction manual.  There's a small sticker sheet, an LED light string with USB adapter, and several bags of parts. Bags with the number 1 on them correspond to building instructions starting with A in the manual, and bags with the number 2 on them are to be used in steps with  the letter B.

Just like in the Steamed Bun shop, there is an introduction on the first page of the manual by ExeSandbox.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow on this set.



Here's some of the pics I took during the build.  Lots of nice detailing!  Bricks are top notch and have their own logo on them.  They don't use Gobricks but the quality is just the same.

"CaDA Bricks is a brand of building bricks created by the Double Eagle Group, located in mainland China (Shantou city). Our toy bricks are produced from high quality raw materials and certified according to leading International Safety Standards. CaDA was established in 2016 and has since developed many successful building bricks sets."


About the summer breeze coffee shop, it's a smaller building that has a footprint of 17 studs wide by 19 studs deep.  There is a small sidewalk in front of the shop that's occupied by a construction pylon and what appears to be a manhole cover.  The raised platform is home to several plants and a signboard listing the coffee prices in japanese yen.


Here's a better look at the shop interior.  There's a counter that runs the width of the shop with seating for three on the stools.  A small shelf next to the counter has more plants.  The coffee machine sits on the counter with a small sink behind it.  The coffee menu on the wall is the same one on the signboard.  A large potted plant occupies another part of the counter.  Finally the back wall has a shelf and a ventilation unit.  For such a small building, this little coffee shop is packed with details.  


It's a tight squeeze behind the counter, but the barista can at least exit the shop via the side entrance with it's unique covering.  Notice the technic brick here, I think it can be used with a technic pin to attach it to the side of Cada steamed bun shop.

Here's another look at the interior.  There's a flip up window over the sink that could be used as a drive through window if one wanted to be really creative.



As with the steamed bun shop, the coffee shop is equipped with the same LED lighting.  I fed the lighting wire through a small hole in the back wall and  it snakes around the top perimeter of the shop.  You have to provide your own power supply because the building kit doesn't come with.  You can use the light's USB adapter to plug it into any device or battery pack that has a USB slot.


With the panel and sliding door installed, you really can't appreciate the interior details, which is why you'll notice that I purposely left them off in my pictures.  The lower part of the building is complete, time to move on to the shop roof.


I love the design that ExeSandbox used to create the retractable overhang in the roof.

It's controlled by this knob you turn on the rear of the building.


Another cool feature is the opening skylight with a pivoting support arm to keep it open.



Front features of the roof includes some kind of mechanical box with chrome piping. There are three small spotlights and signage for the shop.  Too bad these couldn't be lit up!

Here's the coffee shop with the roof on!  Looks amazing!  BTW, I chose to swap the positions of the sign board and the light pole.  I think it's a cleaner look this way.  And I left off the construction pylon in most of my pics, because I feel it detracts from the beauty of the shop.

Displayed with doors removed.


With canopy extended.


You can only feel the summer breeze with the windows and doors open.


Especially when you open the skylight in the roof.





Please know that the two mini figures in the pictures, do not come with the set. I added them from my collection so you can get an idea whether this set is compatible scale-wise to other Lego style modular buildings.  I think the scale of the summer breeze coffee shop is perfect.

I really enjoyed this build and the way it looks. The architecture and design really stands out.  So many details and features for such a small set, like the opening skylight, the cantilevered extension, and the sliding doors.  Even the stickers were great!  Five stars for the Cada Summer Breeze Coffee Shop!

afobrick.com

Please check out their the afobrick.com store for this and other great Lego compatible building sets.  Don't forget to use coupon code ITSNOTLEGO at checkout to get a further discount off your purchases.





The two Cada sets look great together!   Bye and thanks for visiting Bricks and Figs!

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Cada C66006 Steamed Bun Shop Set Review (not Lego)

Hello brick fans and welcome back to bricksandfigs.blogspot.com, my little space on the web where I review Lego and non Lego brick sets, mini figures and share pictures of my MOC builds.

Today, I'll be reviewing the Cada C66006 Steamed Bun Shop.  The Japanese style building is a design of Tong Xin Jun (ExeSandbox).  It's a small two storey building, and is comprised of 1108 pieces.  The set comes with an instruction manual, a sticker sheet, a brick separator and a USB powered light string.  Please note, that this set does not include any minifigures, however I have included one of my own minifigures for display purposes.


Thanks so much to AFOBRICK.com for providing this set for me to review!  Details on how you can get this set from them at the end of this post.




The Cada bun shop was well wrapped and it arrived in great condition.  Thanks AFOBRICK!

Here's everything I got in this set, in addition to the instruction manual.  There are 7 bags of parts for Step 1, and another 7 bags of parts for Step 2.  There's a few other bags of additional parts.


The instructions were adequate, but I sometimes found it hard to differentiate between clear and light gray pieces, and the same for dark brown vs. black pieces. Below are a few pics that I took during the build process.


People were asking if the Cada Bun Shop was minifigure scale, so I took a few pics during the build and posted them in my earlier blog post which you can find here

Buns for sale at the counter.  Just want to point out that brick quality and clutch is excellent.  You really can't tell that you aren't building with Lego bricks.

Makings of the vending machine.  I haven't put on the stickers yet for the little bottles inside the vending machine.

Here's the completed storefront.   Actually, it's more like a stall with the seating in front.   One of the changes I would make is to put the building on a full 16x32 stud baseplate, and then set the building back a few more studs, so that the accessories like the sign and the pipe don't impede either the patrons seating at the counter or pedestrians who might be walking past.

Although I can't read what all the signage is about, they give a very authentic feel to the Japanese bun shop.  The stickers were not too hard to apply.

Here's the backside of the shop. The stairs to the second floor are pretty steep.  On the second floor, is space for a cabinet, a desk and stool, with ladder access to the sleeping loft (bedding not shown).  On the wall is an air conditioner unit.  

By adding the back wall, the shop has a much more completed look.  The electrical pole, the ducting, the wall mounted ventilation unit, all add to the cool details of this building.   The designer did a great job here, I must admit.  With a deeper baseplate, one could even add a few extra trash bins or some boxes.  That's something I might do in the future to modify the bun shop.

The rear wall of the bun shop is hinged so that you can access the interior, however unlike other modular buildings, you can't separate the first and second floors from each other.



Check out the finished model.  The first thing that catches my eyes are the wooden slats over the windows, so cool.  Then there's the foliage growing near the roof.  The plastic piping needs to flex a little more, right now it pushes on  the electric pole so that it doesn't quite stay upright.  There's even a small light that extends off the electric pole.

With the drink vending machine built into the side of the bun shop, it doesn't take up too much room.  I like the awning over the vending machine too. 

With the provided USB powered LED light, you can make the interior glow!  Looks awesome, doesn't it?  The manual instructs you to weave the LED light wire all through the shop during the building process, but I just shoved the lighting in as an afterthought and it still looks great.  

Please note that I have used my own battery pack which has a USB port to which I can attach the light.  That's not provided with the set, but it would have been nice if Cada had included one.

The bun shop looks amazing all lit up.

Here's how I fed the LED light wire into the back.  You can see the battery pack to which I attached the USB plug and switch into.  Cool, right?

I forgot to mention that there's a skylight on the roof of the building.

So to wrap up, here are some of the extra pieces that I had left over.  I might not have added everything as per the instructions because sometimes I gloss over things.  But it didn't affect the final result.

The furniture that I built but didn't put into the second floor includes a desk with computer monitor and tower, a small stool, a futon bed and a small nightstand with light and potted plant. 

For my rating I give this building 5 out of 5 stars, despite the stickers and the smaller base plate.  Once built, the bun shop just looks amazing and even more so with the LED lighting that comes with the set.  To improve this set, I would use a larger base plate and add one or two minifigures, like a shopkeeper and a customer.


This was my first time building a Cada brand set and I thought that the quality and clutch of the bricks was first rate.  I would love to build more Cada buildings in the future and have them added to my modular building collection.


For those who are interested in acquiring the Cada C66006 Steamed Bun Shop, you can find it at AFOBRICK.com.  They are a newer seller of Lego compatible brick sets.  Feel free to check them out, if you like.   Click on the picture below to take you to Cada bun shop on the AFOBRICK website.

For a limited time only, get a further discount by using code ITSNOTLEGO at checkout for extra savings.  Don't know how long the discount code will last.

Also on Aliexpress, find it using the term Japanese Streetview.


Thanks for sticking to the end of this long post.  Hope you enjoyed all the pictures and the review of the Cada C66006 Steamed Bun Shop.  Let me know how I can improve my content or what not in the comments below.   See ya!